Resort Quick Serve Breakfast

[TheBigErn]

We always stay on property and we always rope drop the parks. So we like to get up and have quick serve breakfast at our resort's QS restaurant. This May we're staying at SSR and the QS restaurant The Artist's Palette opens at 7am. I know others such as Gasparilla Island Grill at GF opens at 6am. This give the GF guests an advantage in my view. Why don't all QSs open at the same time, preferably 6am? And FYI, we do not want to make breakfast in our room. We go on vacation to not do that.

 

[CarolynFH]

I’m not sure any of us here will be able to answer your question “Why?” I can tell you that when SSR first opened, there was great shock and dismay that the only food service was Artist’s Palette. Apparently the planners for SSR thought that being a timeshare with kitchens and kitchenettes meant that people would prepare their own meals! The Turf Club came later. Presumably the Carriage House doesn’t have access to the kitchen and bakery facilities that Gasparilla does.

 

[Her Dotness]

Actually, it's pandemic-odd that Gaspy's opens at 6:00 a.m.

It used to be open 24 hours, which was fabulous when you woke up in the night and couldn't get back to sleep. Also great for the mob leaving a holiday party or closing the MK to stop off for a late-night bite.

They had some wonderful wee small hours snacks, personal pizzas and sandwiches.

I suspect that Disney's monitoring early-morning QS sales helps determine when a resort QS opens. That's my guesstimate, anyway.

 

[Miffy]

When I was at GFC last May, Gaspy's opened at 6, but until 7 it was serving only pastries, juice, and coffee. You could get a prepared breakfast only starting at 7. I don't know if it's still that way at this point.

 

[soniam]

Since we are rope droppers, this has been the bain of our existence. It's a real pain. Sometimes, we can manage to grab something, but usually not. We end up eating something in the car, bus, or while waiting for the park to open. We eat something like a bar, dry cereal, or pastry purchased the day before. Then we either eat a late TS breakfast in park, which is very hard to do now too, or get a quick breakfasty thing, ie pastry, in the park. We usually eat lunch as early as we can.

 

[Miffy]

Since we are rope droppers, this has been the bain of our existence. It's a real pain. Sometimes, we can manage to grab something, but usually not. We end up eating something in the car, bus, or while waiting for the park to open. We eat something like a bar, dry cereal, or pastry purchased the day before. Then we either eat a late TS breakfast in park, which is very hard to do now too, or get a quick breakfasty thing, ie pastry, in the park. We usually eat lunch as early as we can.

We have the same dilemma and in fact had a couple of days last trip when we scheduled all our G+ and ILL$ for the late afternoon mostly so we could have a real breakfast.

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

I miss that Gaspy's is no longer 24 hours, 6-7am is still listed as a 'snack time' with breakfast not starting until 7am. The opening times for resort quick service were inconvenient for us even pre-Covid. We had a few Christmas trips, most recently in 2019, where MK and HS opened at 6am (they let us in around 5:30am) and Contempo Cafe didn't open until 7am. Only a handful of food carts were open at that time in the parks, no quick service opened in the park until 8 which made the lack of morning resort QS even worse! We always eat a little something in our room when that happens and pack snacks like breakfast bars. If we have a pool day before a park day we buy breakfast at the resort QS, store it in the fridge and heat it up the next day before we go to the parks.


Decide what your priority is, either eating breakfast in your room and going to the parks early or maintining the position that it is vacation so you aren't going to make your own breakfast then wait for QS to open and get to the parks later.

 

[DJFan88]

Could you grab some cinnamon rolls or something the night before?

 

[Pumbaa_]

Being a DVC resort w either full kitchens or kitchenette many prefer bfast in their unit. I know we always did. Plus the cheapskate in me hates paying more for bfast than lunch. When staying DVC we would either make bfast before heading out or pick up bagels, pastries, hard boiled, etc the night before. I often make egg salad w hard boiled eggs, Mayo packs and put it on a croissant picked up the night before. A nice protein/carb mix

 

[TheBigErn]

Being a DVC resort w either full kitchens or kitchenette many prefer bfast in their unit. I know we always did. Plus the cheapskate in me hates paying more for bfast than lunch. When staying DVC we would either make bfast before heading out or pick up bagels, pastries, hard boiled, etc the night before. I often make egg salad w hard boiled eggs, Mayo packs and put it on a croissant picked up the night before. A nice protein/carb mix

Like I said, we don't want to make our own meals; we're on vacation. Also, it's not just the DVC resorts that don't open QS serve until 7am. So it's not exclusive to them from what I'm seeing. For example Riverside Mill at POR also opens at 7am.

 

[Pumbaa_]

To each their own

 

[HashberryOTG]

I suspect it's just a business decision. Some areas may simply be more likely to have business earlier than others.

 

[Prince John Robin Hood]

I hate that we have no room service and such limited hours on the stores and restaurants. Can't the resorts at least offer a few items 24/7? VGF2 has no fridge or microwave so make sure you've got crackers and bottled water when staying there.

 

[boop0524]

I fully support no cooking on vacation, and not being able to QS breakfast due to hours can be frustrating. I also don't like to waste park time eating breakfast. A snack mid morning is fine, but that's it usually. We bring granola bars and prepared pastries (DH loves those danishes from the grocery store). If we have time in advance, I like going to Amorette's in Disney Springs and getting some pastries to have for breakfast, but really anything you find could sub in here. So many yummy options around

 

[HopperFan]

I imagine it is pretty simple - DEMAND is not there, especially since folks are renting units with kitchens. Sure there will be random folks who don't use the kitchens (we've been one) but they aren't going to open and take on more expenses just because a few folks want breakfast.

Every single dining location has it's own management and own P&L to manage. So you can't compare one location to another. All you can do is plan for yourself around what is offered.

 

[TheBigErn]

I imagine it is pretty simple - DEMAND is not there, especially since folks are renting units with kitchens. Sure there will be random folks who don't use the kitchens (we've been one) but they aren't going to open and take on more expenses just because a few folks want breakfast.

Every single dining location has it's own management and own P&L to manage. So you can't compare one location to another. All you can do is plan for yourself around what is offered.

Demand and kitchens don't explain it. POR, Pop, Poly, WL, CR, CS all open their QS at 7 or 730am. This is just a sampling. My point is, Disney knows people arrive at rope drops as early as 730am (or earlier) why not open restaurants at 6am? I certain the demand is there.

 

[HopperFan]

Demand and kitchens don't explain it. POR, Pop, Poly, WL, CR, CS all open their QS at 7 or 730am. This is just a sampling. My point is, Disney knows people arrive at rope drops as early as 730am (or earlier) why not open restaurants at 6am? I certain the demand is there.

Well I do believe demand would be their number one reason. It is a business decision and that likely is there isn't enough food purchased to justify opening up those kitchens early at this point. They already have a hiring problem in the kitchens so to increase pay to hire enough people to open longer hours = a minimum sales goal must be met. And again, it doesn't matter what other places do, each restaurant is it's own profit center. Each resort operates independently. Whatever their reason is, it makes business sense to THEM so until the situation changes in THEIR favor, it is what it is.

They know there are lots of options for guests for eating breakfast, especially resorts with kitchen options, so not to be cold, they are still going to do what is best for them. Nothing sinister, just business.

 

[jillt2ph]

And the worst part of all this is the lack of options at the parks. I really HATE that the Mainstreet Bakery was turned into a Starbucks and Starring Rolls closed in HS. I used to love the apple turnover that was available at both of those places. Now the lines are so long it totally turns me off. Gaston's used to move people through a lot quicker but I don't even try there anymore. I have started doing the buy a pastry the night before thing.

 

[soniam]

And the worst part of all this is the lack of options at the parks. I really HATE that the Mainstreet Bakery was turned into a Starbucks and Starring Rolls closed in HS. I used to love the apple turnover that was available at both of those places. Now the lines are so long it totally turns me off. Gaston's used to move people through a lot quicker but I don't even try there anymore. I have started doing the buy a pastry the night before thing.

Quick breakfast options in the parks are pretty limited. Here's what we have found, and they tend to not have long lines.

MK - Cheshire Cafe (can only get cat tail pastry), Westward Ho
AK - Isle of Java (tiger tail pastry), Royal Anandpur/Joffrey's (donuts, muffins, pastries), Kusafiri (Mickey cinnamon roll)
DHS - Joffrey's near TSL, Woody's (the mobile order spots seem to go fast, but they have let us do walk up in the morning)
Epcot - Plenty of Joffrey's, Kringla, Les Halles

 

[DJFan88]

I want one of those Gaston cinnamon rolls again! And a big pink Joffreys donut.